President Koroma among very few world leaders whose governments still given economic windfall by international stakeholders on the eve of elections

What any serious analyst with a knowledge of political history would know is that when elections are coming, international financial institutions subtly stop funding a country whose President’s integrity they distrust. They fear two things, firstly that the outgoing President will embezzle the funds or use it to campaign during the elections.

This is a problem that many third world leaders have encountered. The late President Kabbah faced it in Sierra Leone between 2005 to 2007 . International donor agencies and stakeholders cut funding to the country because they did not trust the government with their money as elections knocked at the door.

PRESIDENT KOROMA : TRUSTED BY IMF AND INTERNATIONAL STAKEHOLDERS

However, in present day Sierra Leone, because of the level of confidence that President Ernest Koroma has generated in fiscal management and disbursement and his impeccable integrity and uprightness, it is at the eve of elections that the IMF has felt encouraged to grant Sierra Leone a whopping $224.2 million under the Extended Crédit Facility (EFC) to help us out of our economic difficulties.

Only men who reason while standing on their heads would fail to see the moral and political significance a of what the IMF has just done. Only men with telling psychological deficits in their thinking and reasoning would attempt to fault the President on an issue for which they should be applauding the Head of State.

What the IMF is telling the world is that they are not only impressed by President Koroma’s sound economic policies but that they trust in his integrity and scruples to manage well whatever money is given our nation, whether or not it is at elections time when they feel that leaders face the temptation to use the money for self- aggrandizement or campaign purposes.

There is no doubt that Sierra Leone from 2007 to this day has been blessed with a President who is one of a kind. He is the best and the most respected and the most trusted President we have ever had in our nation since Independence. He was trusted when he came in and he is still trusted when he is leaving. Let the demented and the depraved call us sycophants. Events keep proving that we are not. We are very proud that these international organizations, which use their own objective benchmarks free of partisan leanings, continue to exonerate us.

The IMF owe President Koroma no favors. They do not owe any leader favours. They have nothing to gain or lose if they give bad marks to a country and deny or grant aid or credit facilities to any leader. They have objective and time- tested criteria to operate and so it is asinine for anybody to accuse them of not evaluating the economic standings of nations well. They have well paid economic advisers, experts and evaluators on the ground . Unlike our people who run their political gamut based on rumours and speculation, these experts are well trained in the art of objective analyses of economic trends . They make comprehensive research;they track global , regional and local economies and markets ; they study statistical data . They studh real time events on the ground. THEY test hypothesis . They do not eat Cassava lif or fufu and bitter lif and out of mere “bellfull ^ make conclusions and decisions. Whatever they say is based on well- coordinated analyses and research. Therefore their economic predictions that the economy is bound to grow by 7% and that inflation will fall by 12 percent are based on findings from their research and study.

Even if you are chronically biased against President Koroma , give him credit for this good news which demonstrate his excellent nation management. We still have problems in our country. We have not arrived yet, but be man enough to acknowledge that President Koroma has been doing a great job and is a brilliant head of state and it is his brilliant economic management that has compelled the IMF to do what they usually do not do on the eve of elections — give nations an economic windfall.

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